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Monday, March 14, 2011

Nuclear Power

The media today is reporting the terrible events in Japan and coupling it with a series of warnings and statements about how the USA has to go slow on nuclear power. Senator Lieberman wants to "put on the brakes" for nuclear power plants. Many others voice similar concerns. My question is where have they been living? Under a rock? There has not been a new nuclear power plant opened in the USA in the last 30 years. How do we slow down from that?

Clearly, it does not make sense to build a nuke plant in an area that could get hit with a tsunami. It also makes little sense to put them in very active earthquake zones. So why not build such plants in locations that are far from fault lines and far from the shore. How about in Nevada or Montana or Oklahoma? Think, for example, of the four plants in Coalstrip Montana. these enormous power plants were built next to a strip mine. In that way, there is no need to transport the coal to the plant. The power is then sent to other locations over cables.

Obviously, there is no location that is totally safe from natural calamities. Using a little common sense, however, would go a long way towards making sure that everyone stays safe.

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